August 1, 2016

“Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.” Ps. 29:1-2

What do we ascribe to the Lord God? What features does He have, in our mind? What is His character? Who is God?

These are important questions and how we answer them will result in different present actions and endings.

Interestingly, the choices we make in what characteristics we attribute to God are ours to make. God presents the evidence and we must, from that evidence, conclude. Our view of the truth may be distorted by sin or made clear by God’s sovereign act of grace to enable us to see, but it is still our view. We possess the view, we attribute the characteristics, and we must live for all eternity with the consequences of those choices.

One feature which we could ascribe to God is fancifulness. In other words, God is what we make Him up to be. If we want Him to be a clown, then He is a clown. This is the view of many atheists, who acknowledge that there may be a God, but that He is a figment of our imaginations. This conclusion from our ascriptions to God is logical from our beginning point, our ascriptions, but leads to death for all time and beyond time.

Another feature we could describe to God is remoteness. God sits on His holy hill and looks down at us uninvolved in our daily lives; God exists but He is remote. From this ascription of remoteness to the Lord, we would easily conclude that, although there is a God, He is irrelevant for daily living. We may respect Him and even fear Him, but we cannot love Him because there is no relationship – no involvement, no relationship. The persons who ascribe remoteness to God may have the label of one religion or another, but they do not walk in the power of the presence, because there is no presence. They tip their hats toward God in acknowledgment of His existence, but proceed to live their lives as they see fit because God doesn’t care and isn’t involved anyway.

The characteristics we ascribe to God matter, which is why the Psalmist begins with instructions to the angels about the characteristics they, and we, should ascribe to God. Ascribe to Him “glory and strength” and the “glory due His name.”

What does this mean? There is nothing friendly about this, loving about it, all-knowing about it, all-involved about it, or ever-present about it.

The meaning is simple and the reason this must come first is clear. The meaning of glory is weight, honor, esteem, majesty, abundance and wealth. These are the attributes of a King, of a sovereign. These are the attributes of the King of Kings.

Why must this come first? Because, at the end of the day, we will progress nowhere in our worship, our hope, our growth in maturity, our wisdom, our perseverance, or our love without first recognizing that (a) there is a king and (b) we are not that person. “I am not the king over my life” is perhaps the most important conclusion we can ever come to. And it begins with an attribution to God that He is full of glory, as the King of the universe should be. Once we recognize that He is glory, we then come to the conclusion of the quoted verses today – “Worship the Lord in the splendor of [His] holiness.”

Now these are instructions to angels, who always sit before God worshipping Him in His glory, honor, and holiness. So why do they need the reminder? I don’t know, but knowing that Lucifer was a fallen angel, it might have something to do with the same phenomena which happens to us when we look at ourselves in the mirror and say, “I am the master of my destiny. Look at my things, look at my glory.” As the angels reflect the glory of God they may begin to believe that they are the ones producing the glory, instead of just reflecting it, and in so doing forget that God is the sovereign one and they are not.

Our glory is not our own; our holiness is not ours. Anything we have like that is because we reflect the Father’s glory and the Father’s holiness.

Why must we ascribe glory, honor, and power to God? Because in doing so we take the first steps of acknowledging who the true King is, we grow in obedience and good works, and we can accept the gift of eternal life from Jesus Christ the Son.

But how can we do this? Though it be impossible for man, nothing is impossible for God. Therefore, we pray, “come Holy Spirit and empower us to see You as you are so that we too, with the angels, may worship You and You alone in the splendor of Your Holiness.”

May 25, 2016

Psalm 21

.“His [the king’s] glory is great through Your salvation; splendor and majesty You bestow on him. For You make him most blessed forever; You make him glad with joy of Your presence. For the king trusts in the Lord, and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved.” Ps. 21:5-7

Which king is the Psalmist talking about?

One answer could be the author of this Psalm, King David himself. If this is the case, he is speaking of himself in the third person, but that is not unusual if David was intending to turn himself as king into the object of God’s pleasure.

Another answer could be Jesus Christ Himself, King of Glory. One reason it could be him is that the Psalmist says “You make him most blessed forever.” And who is most blessed, except the Son of God Himself. Another reason could be that He bestows “splendor and majesty on him.” And who has the most splendor and majesty except the King of Kings and Lord of Lords? However, I do not think it is a reference to the Messiah because David starts off by saying that the king’s glory is great through “Your salvation.” Although in one sense it is God Almighty who brings salvation to His people, Jesus Christ as God did not need to be saved – He is Savior; He saves. Jesus’ glory pre-existed His death and resurrection and preceded creation itself.

So who else could David be talking about? You … and me.

Think about it for minute. Why not?

To the extent we reflect glory, it is made great through His salvation of us.

To the extent we reflect splendor and majesty in what we do and who we are, it is God who gives it to us.

To the extent we are blessed, it is because God has made us “most blessed.” And since we are saved by God’s might, He has made us “most blessed forever.”

To the extent we are thankful for our blessings, it is through the power of God in us that we can even see the source of those blessings, much less be glad in His presence.

And how is it that we reflect glory, are bestowed with honor, splendor and majesty, receive our blessings, and become joyful in the presence of the living God? It is because “the king trusts in the Lord.”

And finally and most importantly, to the extent we are unmoved by the world, by the opinions of others, by our own carnal desires, it is because of “the steadfast love of the Most High.” If we stand strong in the evil day, it is because the God we worship is Himself steadfast in power, holiness, and love.

So personalize this psalm: “My glory is great through His salvation; splendor and majesty have been bestowed upon me by Him. He has made me most blessed forever; and I have been made by Him to be glad and joyful in His presence. It is because I trust in the Lord, and I shall not be moved from the rock because He is steadfast in His love for me.”